


Five-alarm Fire (in Haru's... Heart)

by scarletsaber (sushibunny)



Series: The College Life and Relationships of Haruka Nanase [5]
Category: Free!
Genre: 2AM Bonding is Best Bonding, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Never Met, For reasons, Haru Doesn't Seem To Mind, Haru is Suddenly Very Aware of His Blood Flow This Time, M/M, Poor Makoto I Love To Make Him Suffer, Typical College Experience, wink wink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-08
Updated: 2016-09-08
Packaged: 2018-08-13 21:24:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7986745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sushibunny/pseuds/scarletsaber
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two AM fire alarms were an unfortunate part of dorm life, Haru had come to find out. At least he had been sleeping in his bed when it went off. </p><p>Unfortunately, Makoto had not been so lucky. And Haru wasn't sure how he felt about that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five-alarm Fire (in Haru's... Heart)

**Author's Note:**

> Gah, I meant to have this up sooner but I got stuck in angst mode from writing my other story and the humor just would not come. Hopefully this is worth the wait!

There were a lot of things Haru would have liked to be doing at 2AM on a Tuesday.

Sleeping for the night, laying in his bed unconscious, taking an eight hour nap; things like that.

Standing outside with the rest of his dorm on a chilly night at the end of April after having been jolted out of a peaceful slumber by the blaring sound of the dorm fire alarm was not on that list.

His mood had worsened when it became abundantly clear after five minutes of shuffling around in the ill-lit area everyone had converged in outside the dorm that there was in fact no real fire. Haru had noted a burning smell coming from the direction of the kitchen when he had followed the throng of tired students out of the building, but had just related it to the alarm. Apparently he had been mistaken as to exactly how that smell had been related.

Other’s inability to cook properly being the cause of his interrupted slumber did nothing to endear Haru to the situation at hand. A small circle of empty space had formed around him as he stood scowling back at the building, not caring if that was because of his unapproachable look or just due to people migrating towards their friends- of which he was not- and leaving him be. Either way, Haru continued to glare, mood not improving as equally disgruntled-seeming firefighters arrived and headed in.

As he continued to stare resolutely ahead, Haru eventually picked up on murmurs around him. There was a small commotion about something going on off to his left, and the whispers and giggles eventually became too distracting for him to continue his attempts to set the building on fire with his mind and create an actual reason for him to be outside in the cold at that ungodly hour. Seeking out the new source of interest, Haru peered over in the direction of the most concentrated muttering.

Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary to him; just a mass of bothersome, chatty students that seemed to all be focusing on something in the middle of the group. Haru frowned, annoyance peaking at yet another seemingly causeless commotion, before his eyes caught on a familiar head of brunet hair. Haru had registered somewhere in his mind that Makoto was tall, taller than himself, certainly, but he hadn’t really realized how much so before seeing his friend’s head peeking out above the crowd in front of him. Something about that made him feel warm, for some reason.

Unsure about the strange feeling in his gut, Haru was about to turn back to his scowling at the building, not wanting to exacerbate the weird new issue by approaching the source, when Makoto suddenly turned- _maybe he felt me looking_ , Haru thought before mentally berating himself for the idea- and locked eyes with him.

“Haru!” Makoto called, smiling and waving at him.

Haru sighed, resigned to his fate, and began shuffling over through the thick crowd towards a far too excited Makoto. As he made his way through, Haru noted the whispers and eyes now being directed on him, which was a far cry from his previous leper status from only moments ago. _Why do they care what I’m doing?_

The answer quickly became clear when Haru finally broke through the group, finding himself face-to-face in a small clearing with Makoto.

A towel-clad Makoto.

An _only_ towel-clad Makoto.

Haru’s eyes widened- only from the shock, of course- as he watched as water droplets fell from Makoto’s still wet hair, trailing in little rivers down Makoto’s quite impressively fit chest and abdomen before disappearing into the blue cotton around Makoto’s hips. The fabric of the towel seemed to be particularly damp where it met Makoto’s skin, indicating that he hadn’t had much of a chance to dry off before he threw on the towel, letting gravity take over removing the remaining water from his body. Haru was beginning to wonder if that towel was perhaps shorter than the average towel- it seemed shorter, but maybe that was because Makoto was so tall- when he suddenly realized he had been staring for far too long and he snapped his eyes up and away from the distracting length of fabric before he could linger on that train of thought any longer.

He wasn’t sure if he was more jealous of the towel or the water, which was absurd- water and he had a great relationship, though he was beginning to question that as he watched Makoto’s hand reach up and slick back his still wet hair. Haru had always wondered what all those books Gou was always reading meant when they said that all of someone’s blood rushed south.

Now he understood.

“Eh, I was kinda in the shower when the alarm went off,” Makoto said bashfully, moving his hand to the back of his neck. “It’s, um, a bit chilly.”

Haru would have thought the opposite, what with how red Makoto’s face currently was.

“Here.” Before he could realize what he was doing, Haru pulled off his jacket and held it out to Makoto.

“Huh? Oh, no, Haru, that’s alright! I wouldn’t want to get it wet! I’ll be fine-”

“Makoto.”

Makoto closed his mouth on any further protests, giving Haru a warm smile that definitely didn’t bring back any weird feelings that felt equally as warm. “Thanks, Haru.”

Suddenly becoming aware of the voices and eyes around them again after Makoto took the jacket from his hand, Haru turned his head, shooting a glare that Rin would be proud of at the people gathered around them, causing the majority to quickly look away. As soon as Makoto was covered- mostly, as the sleeves were a bit short for him- the rest also turned, seeking out something new to gossip over while they awaited the green light to go back inside the dorm.

Haru looked back at Makoto, willing his cheeks to not turn red as his stomach did an odd flip at the sight of Makoto wearing his clothing. _This crush is becoming annoying_. He was suddenly very happy that Rin lived in another dorm. To distract himself, he shot Makoto a questioning look before glancing back at the dorm and then back at his friend.

“Ah, I know it’s a little late for a shower,” Makoto began, picking up on Haru’s unvoiced question, something he had started doing recently. That gave Haru those odd chest pains too, though he found it hard to bring himself to mind. “But I was up late writing a paper, and I figured a hot shower would help me relax before bed, so.” He gave Haru a sheepish smile. “Though I never expected the fire alarm to go off…”

Haru hummed in agreement, making a concerted effort to keep his eyes above Makoto’s shoulders (and his mind off the picture of Makoto relaxing in the shower). That turned out to be less helpful than he had anticipated, as he was then forced to focus on Makoto’s gentle smile and warm green eyes. _Crap. What the hell are those firemen waiting for?_ He turned his head to look for the people currently in charge of his fate- aka when he could go back to bed and stop teetering on the edge of embarrassing himself- and noted a group of them milling about on the dorm steps, talking to a man Haru dimly recognized as a college administrator of some sort.

Makoto must have noticed where Haru’s gaze had drifted when he spoke up next. “You know, I wanted to be a fireman when I was little.”

Haru looked up, the glare that had slipped back onto his face softening at the smile he could hear behind those words.

“I wanted to rescue cats from trees and save people’s homes.” Makoto looked and sounded nostalgic, and Haru couldn’t help the small smile that curled his lips. “But eventually I realized I would never be brave enough to be one. I’m too much of a coward.”

The smile fell quickly at that, frown replacing it at the resignation in Makoto’s words. “You’re not a coward,” he found himself saying, much more vehemently than he had planned.

Makoto gave him a fond, yet slightly patronizing look. “Haru, you first met me when I was hiding from a spider.”

“There’s no spiders at a fire,” Haru insisted, not really sure why Makoto’s opinion of himself was suddenly so important to him.

Makoto laughed. “I suppose that’s true. But I still don’t think I could ever run into a burning building to save someone.”

“You would. Even if you weren’t a fireman.” Haru hadn’t known Makoto for long, only a few weeks. But he knew he was right. Makoto was self-sacrificing to a fault, and he had no doubts that Makoto would put someone else’s life before his own, even by rushing into a fire.

Makoto looked at him open mouthed and wide eyed for a few moments before his gaze softened, eyes half lidded and fond smile on his lips. “Thank you, Haru.”

Haru couldn’t answer, so he turned his head to the side in an effort to hide his blush. He was pretty sure he was largely unsuccessful when Makoto chuckled softly.

“What about you, Haru? What did you want to be when you were growing up?” Makoto asked, taking pity on Haru and changing the subject; at least that’s what Haru assumed he was doing.

“A chef.”

“Oh, really? Well, you’re a good enough cook for it!” Makoto proclaimed, grinning down at him. “What kind of chef? Like, a pastry chef, or maybe a fancy French one, or more traditional-”

“Mackerel.”

“Eh?”

“A mackerel chef.”

Makoto shot him a puzzled look. “I… don’t understand?”

“I would only cook mackerel dishes,” Haru explained, though he questioned the need to. He felt it was a pretty self explanatory title.

“But… But what about dessert?”

“Mackerel cake.”

“Eh?! Haru, no, you can’t put fish in a cake!” Makoto exclaimed, looking honestly concerned.

“Mm, chocolate mackerel cake is good. The mackerel enhances the flavor.”

“Haru, that’s-”

“I’ll make it for you sometime.”

“Wha- er, uh, that’s- that’s alright, I wouldn’t want you to go to any trouble!”

Haru wondered why Makoto was suddenly looking more green than red. “No trouble. When is your birthday?”

Makoto made an odd face; if Haru didn’t know any better he would say it was like he was trying to hide a grimace behind his usual smile. “Uh, well it’s November 17th. But I really don’t want you to go out of the way for me! Really!”

Haru frowned slightly as he looked away but didn’t answer. _Maybe he doesn’t like chocolate and is too polite to tell me…_

“Oh! When’s your birthday, Haru?”

Haru glanced back at Makoto, finding genuine interest on his face. “June. Thirtieth.”

“Ah! That’s pretty soon! I definitely won’t forget!”

Haru had to look away again at the blinding smile Makoto gave him. Thankfully he was saved from any further embarrassment when a voice yelled out over the crowd of tired students that they could return to the dorm rooms- finally- and to please pay better attention to their popcorn in the future.

“At least I can microwave popcorn properly,” Makoto laughed, nudging Haru’s shoulder with his own as they joined the rest of the dorm occupants in their trudge back inside.

“If you set off the fire alarm I won’t forgive you.”

“Haru~!”

He let a small smile curl his lips at Makoto’s whine. It was cute. _Wait, no, no it definitely isn’t!_

“Ah! I should give this back!” Makoto said as they reached the lobby, moving to unzip the jacket he still wore. The towel shifted slightly in the process, revealing a tantalizing view of firm abs and Adonis Belt before Makoto’s hand shot down to make sure it didn’t slip off. Haru was infinitely glad his life wasn’t a shonen anime, or else he was pretty sure he would have passed out from blood loss. “Thanks so much for lending it to me, Haru. It was um, cold, and very embarrassing. You’re a real life savor!”

“...Keep it,” Haru said, turning his head to the side to fight his blush. His eyes went wide as he realized what he said, head whipping back to meet Makoto’s confused gaze. “Until you can get your clothes again, I mean. You can give it back later sometime.”

“Are you sure?” Makoto continued quickly when Haru only responded with his deadpan expression, eyes saying _of course I’m sure. I wouldn’t have said so if I wasn’t_. “Thank you, Haru.”

“Makoto.” He wasn’t sure where he was going with that, but he felt the need to say _something_ to Makoto; something reassuring, something to let him know he cared. “...Be better prepared next time.” _Nailed it_.

But Makoto just chuckled, giving him a look that seemed to say he understood what Haru meant, which sent those annoying _feelings_ running through his stomach again. “Of course, Haru. Goodnight.”

“...Night.”

Haru couldn’t help letting his eyes drop down to Makoto’s towel clad rear as he walked away, letting them linger for far longer than would be considered appropriate- if there was such a length of time that was appropriate for staring at your friend’s ass. _I really need to get this under control_ , he thought as he forced himself to head back to his room, suddenly feeling very exhausted.

**Author's Note:**

> Sweet dreams Haru~ ;)
> 
> I had far too much fun writing this. I'm not sure who ended up suffering more, Makoto or Haru...
> 
> The next thing I'll be working on is drabbles for [makoharu week](http://makoharuweek2016.tumblr.com/), which you should definitely check out if you haven't already, so the next part will have to wait until after that. I only have an idea for Day 3 so far though, so if you have any prompts I am very open to them :)
> 
> If you have any good college AU prompts you'd like me to consider using, or you'd just like to come flail with me about makoharu, go ahead and leave me a comment or message me on my tumblr [misakis-saruhiko](http://misakis-saruhiko.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
